Work will win when wishy washy wishing won't

This morning it was a little harder for me to wake up! A gentle nudging from Tom helped at least roll me out. Luckily I had a little time to get moving since we had to drive to Salem to run up and down Loafer Mountain! (that's weird, I started that sentence with "luckily", and ended with "mountain" with "run up" in the middle! When did I turn into this crazy running gal?)

Anyway, it was up and then it was down! In the second mile I was able to say "I'll make it to the next mailbox" then "I'll make it to the next sign", ect....But soon the mailboxes and signs were gone and I had to say, "I'll make it to that next pothole.", "I'll make it to that next bend." That is when a cute little hummingbird came to help us along. He was so cute, he would fly just ahead of us and wait for us to catch up and then move forward again. He did it several times! He did it until we could see the fence post of the gate we were going to. Once he knew we were going to make it, he went of on his merry way! As he flew in front of us we became animated, the trees and road became animated, colorful flowers bloomed beneath our feet, rainbows appeared above the trees, I was Julie Andrews and Tom was Dick Van Dyke and we looked lovely and dapper and bounced freely to the gate.....Oh wait, I said that outloud didn't I? That was the part that was all in my mind! Actually when we reached the gate I felt like throwing up...even though that lovely little scene had been playing in my little theater in my head! Just for the record, coming down is much easier! Happy July 1st ya' all!

I thought I'd better add my times for my first time up and down Loafer Canyon.

3.3 up and 3.3 down

11:47   11:38  11:54  8:37  8:02  8:02  last .60 = 8:18

Fourth mile had about .3 uphill and the rest down. 

6 easy miles.  Kellie P. joined me for three of them.  She is doing very good.  It's fun to have her company.  I hope she keeps it up.  I'm planning on running the Manti 5K on Friday.  Tom is going to pace me.  We'll see if it's PR day that day.  I've been trying to do some mental training to help me get past the mental blocks that like to get in the way on race day.  It would be great to get under 24.  We'll see.  

Tom and I were able to enjoy our nice run-away-from-the-wind-6-mile-loop this morning.  Good luck to everyone running Forth of July races!  Happy hydration with the hot temps!  Now... off to work.

Well, I was able to break 24 today!  Yippee!  I'm not quite sure I would have been able to do it without Coach Tom pacing me!  I may have found reasons to slow down if I would have been on my own.  They didn't have any awards.  In fact, the only way to know your time was to listen very carefully as you crossed the finish line as the kid spoke it very softly.  Everyone with me declared me the winner of my age division since I was probably the oldest female running it.  Oh well, it was also free!   My brother, Jeremy, was able to knock a few minutes off of his time...so congrats Jer!

Tom and I joined a rather large group of Spanish Fork area runners.  We turned around a bit before most of the rest of them to get 14.2 today.  In two weeks I'll be taking my long run to 15.  Tomorrow is a rest day and then I guess it's time for a more gentle week of running.  Nice to throw in a rest week with a few less miles about every 5 weeks.

Tom has the day off work today so we slept in a bit and then went to Payson Canyon. We had to take two cars, (not very efficient). We parked one at Pateetneet and then drove up to the base of The Grotto trail. The first 4-5 miles are down hill and then it has rolling and flat with a more gradual down hill from there.

Since it's my first time down I will document my splits for future reference.

8:13 7:19 7:34 7:38 7:43 8:20 8:05 8:25 over all average 7:55

Crazy animal encounter of the day..."Preacher Cow" The sun was just poking over the mountain for their sunrise sermon. The main herd was corralled inside their fence. One cow, (Preacher Cow), stood outside the fence and up on a bit of a hill looking down over his little flock. He would let out a loud "Moooo" and the others would all respond with their "Amens", (or amoooons).

Just a regular old 5 mile run with no animal encounters or much action.  Just some discussion with Kellie P. about this and that.  Legs feel good after my down hill yesterday.  I do feel it a little bit in my calves.  I thought it would be more in the front of my legs.  I am glad my back is cooperating with this whole "run a marathon" idea I have in my mind.  So far, so good.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my legs don't really get very sore.  Well, Coach Tom took that as his own personal challenge.  This week he took me 8 miles down Payson Canyon.  Today when I went out for 3x1mile repeats I wasn't sure if my legs were going to cooperate.  They did and it was a good workout.  It is kind of nice to feel a bit of soreness to know that I am working hard.  

Nice morning run with a couple of different running buddies.  Tom was able to have a little extra sleep and lower miles today.  I met up first with Kellie P.  Then finished up 2 with Tom.

I ran with the SF group this morning.  There was quite a crowd out today.  I mostly ran with Jill and Jennifer.  We kept a speedier pace than I was anticipating for today, but it felt good.  

8:45  7:52  7:56  8:40  8:42  8:33  8:33  9:05  (last .4 = 8:43)

Family reunion time today.  We haven't had a reunion with this side of the family for several years so it should be nice to visit with some cousins we haven't seen for a while.  

This morning Tom and I met Bill and Jennifer at Patetneet to run up and down Payson Canyon.  Tom was going up 5 while the rest of us were going up 4.  My left achilles was very tight to start out.  I was afraid it was going to be quite miserable.  However, it loosened up and was a great run.  Jennifer kept me going and we had some good conversation. 

Today's overall time/average pace:  1:10:35/8:50

9:32  9:14  9:20  9:45  8:10  8:26  8:08  7:55

A good run with Tom after a hard time getting out of bed for both of us.  I went back in to lay down for my nap already because of dentist appointments and ball games later.  I need to make sure to get my sleep.  I function much better when I have some zzzzs behind me!  

I got cleaning the storage room and almost forgot to blog!  *gasp*  That's almost like forgetting to breathe!  Today was just a nice easy 5 miler.  Kellie P joined me for 4 of those.  She is really doing good.  I wish she had the desire to blog, but she doesn't.  

Tomorrow I get to do a 4 mile tempo run.  Tom will help me through the last four miles of the Speedy Spaniard 10K that I will be running next Thursday.   

I think about the marathon A LOT!  Is that a good thing?  I am so excited about getting in, about the training, and looking forward to running 26.2 miles on October 4th!  Is that a good thing?  I would assume that for the most part it is.  However, sometimes I wonder if I get too excited that I will have the potential to set myself up for disappointment.  I am trying to work on my mental toughness to help me through the rough spots.  I visualize all kinds of things that could go wrong and go right.  Whenever I think of something going wrong I visualize a way to make it turn out right.  Am I now an official "running looney"?   

Tom took me on a 4 mile tempo run this morning. I went to bed with an upset stomach and woke up to it also. I had a hard time waking up and wanting to get moving. Then we go out and the wonderful wind was there to greet us. So I was a bit skeptical of what my tempo run would be like. We warmed up about 2.25 to our starting point. And then we were off! Splits for the 4 miles of tempo are 8:12  8:07  7:59  7:46. Overall time for the 4 miles was 32:06 with an average pace of 8:02.  He had told me I could have a window of 8:00-8:30. We ended up with a window about 15 seconds faster than that.  The last mile and a half I was really thinking about the way my foot hits the ground and pushes off.  The end of the tempo was at the city park where we had a very warm drink from the fountain and ran through the sprinklers.  Then up the hill and into the wind back to our house for a total of 7.5.  I'm glad the stomach cooperated.  It still feels yucky, but off to work I go.  

Ran with Tom and John A this morning.  Keeping it pretty easy so I'll be ready for 15-16 tomorrow morning.  

I noticed Tom already mentioned this, but congrats to our son, Jansen, and his Red Sox team for taking #1 in division, #1 in city and now, as of last night at 10:00, #1 in state!  How 'bout a championship game where we win 13-1?!  They have been a fun team to watch!  It's bitter/sweet to have the season over.  No more "take me out to the ballgame" this year.  On to the next sport....back to school shopping! 

Tom and I met the SF group at 5:00 this morning. He was planning on 20 and I was going 15. We started out together but the speedy group quickly got going and headed off in a different direction. So I ran with Tara and Jill and a bunch of guys. We went the Leland route. Along the row of trees one of the guys in our group noticed someone sleeping in the field. It was kind of creepy to have a "hobo" sleeping down in our running area. Later we saw him all packed up and on his way again.

I ran this faster than I had planned, but it is either run faster with a group or fall behind and run alone for 15 miles. I chose to keep with the group and it actually felt good. I had to add on 4 at the end by myself and noticed that, except for the hill, I was still keeping the same pace I had with the group.  Average pace 8:51

Tom has been having some fun with the course tool here on the blog. So we have put together a little "pace bracelet" for the marathon. I have the mile paces for finishing in 4:00, 3:55, 3:49, 3:45.

Some advice to all of you!!!! If your hubby/running buddy says,

"Hey, I have great idea! Let's get up at the looney time of 4:30 and go to Loafer Mountain and run up all the way! Let's not stop at the gate where we stopped last time, let's keep going all the way on the ridiculously steep last mile! You will really like going all the way to the top because there is a drinking fountain up there to reward you! Then we will turn around and run down the ridiculously steep first mile and all the rest of the down hill! You will love it! Everyone needs to try it once! Blah, blah, blah.....!"

If you hear that, don't listen, hire a hit man if you need to.  Not an enjoyable way to start a week!  Rainy day and Monday and a killer workout!  Glad I didn't have to go to work or anywhere, because I crawled back into bed for an hour and a half!   

Today got to be a very gentle 5 mile run through the river bottoms.  Tom and I bumped into the Lewis' and ran with them for a few miles.  

I can't believe how worn out I was yesterday!  I guess after a week where I almost hit 48 miles, a 15 mile run on Saturday, 5 hours of church on Sunday, (without much of a nap), and then tackling Loafer Canyon Monday morning just exhausted me.  I am happy to say I slept pretty good last night though.  I am keeping it very easy tomorrow too in preparation for the 10K on Thursday.

Just two easy miles this morning.  We are heading off to Lagoon at Novell's expense.  Tomorrow morning I will run the Speedy Spaniard 10K.  It will be my first 10K since becoming a runner who actually trains for races.  I hope to be in the low 50s.  We'll see how it goes.  Have a great day!

This was my first time running a 10K since I started training as a runner. I ran it about 3 or 4 years ago when I was trying to be a runner by running 3 miles two or three times a week. This training worked out much better. I was planning on low 50s.

Tom and I started the morning by running from our house, straight into the wind, 3.1 miles to the starting line. I chatted with a few other gals who might be around my same goals but decided not to try to start out or stay with anyone in particular. I knew what I had trained for and wanted to focus on that. One gal wanted me to stay with her but I knew she would go out too aggressive and I didn't want to burn out in the first few miles. She ended up finishing about a minute ahead of me.

I really stuck to the paces I had planned and knew I would be close to 50. When I rounded the last corner and looked at the clock I could see that it said 49:XX. I kicked it into high gear and barely made it before it turned to 50! My Garmin actually said 49:36, so I'm not sure what happened there. But I am thrilled to death to make it in under 50! And to get 2nd in my division adds the icing to the cake!

I am also happy for Tom as he was hoping to get under 40 or better yet under 39. He came in at 38:53. Of course, his age division in our town is very competitive! So he ended up with 4th in his age. (He's a little, or maybe a lot, disappointed that the guy who took 3rd came in 3 seconds before him!)

It's fun to say we both felt really good about today's race!  One more race down on the countdown to St. George!  Happy Pioneer Day Y'all! 

Tom has the day off today and we got to bed late after all the Pioneer Day festivities last night so we slept in a bit this morning. I'm glad we didn't have to rush to get out. It wasn't even too hot waiting an hour and a half to get the run going. Tom is still out getting a few more miles in. I thought I'd better stick to four since I'll be doing 16 tomorrow. That should put me really close to 45-47 for the week.

I guess I can call my 16 miler fun because I was with Jody and Paula.  It was also fun to have Brent join in with us for a minute.  We were  hoping to see Sylvie but missed her.  We were happy to stop and chat with Leslie and Lisa.  It makes me wonder what other bloggers we may have passed along the way.  That would be a fun place to set up a bloggy run sometime!  

I also really liked sprinklers this morning!  The sun was coming down on us pretty good during the last few miles.  I can see some heat training would really serve me well! 

Thanks Paula and Jody for rearranging your miles to fit me into your schedule!  Have a great Sunday rest day!

Emotionally drained today.   Sometimes I just can't handle stress very well.  When I can't handle it I  can tell my whole family suffers, especially Tom.  So therefore, he is also emotionally drained today too.  Sorry Tom.  He is out doing some tempo work, I went out for an easy 5 or 6.  I thought I was meeting up with Kellie but when I ran into John A, (one of the three times we ran into each other today), he mentioned that they were on vacation.  I had forgotten that she would be gone this week.  (By the way, speaking of John A, you should check out his Spudman Race Report for last Saturday!  He did awesome! Congrats John!)

When I was about a block away from home I was going to have to turn and add a bit to make it 6 miles when I saw a garbage can tipped over that belongs to an older couple friend of mine so I decided to stop and do a good deed by picking it up for them.  As I picked it up a piece of broken PVC pipe hit into my ankle.  Dang!  It doesn't look bad, I thought I would look and see a gash, but it's just a little scrape on the outside.  But it sure hurts on the inside and I hobbled the rest of the way home and decided that getting to 6 miles wasn't going to happen today. 

I hate starting Monday out on "empty"!   I guess I need to get out and think of others more today to help fill my bucket.   

I didn't want to go running this morning, but I knew that wouldn't stop me.  I was glad Tom would be joining me but wasn't sure I was excited about a 5 mile tempo run.  We started out with a 2 mile warm up.  For the tempo he said I could have a window of 8:00-8:30.  The first mile was 8:40 and I was thinking that would be all I could give today and I would be lucky to make it three miles at that pace.  It was slightly uphill and into the wind. 

Mile 2  I was able to pick it up a bit to 8:19. 

Mile 3 was 8:32.  

Mile 4 was 8:01 and

Mile 5 was 7:49.  

I'm glad I made it through all 5 miles.  I know it wasn't very consistent, but I had to run how I was feeling at the moment.   I feel good about finishing strong.  I tried my new hydration belt out today.  I thought it might bother me to wear it, but it was quite nice.  

I love it when I can crawl back into bed after an early run like today.  We had to wake up at 4:20 to get ready and into Payson by 5:00 for the 1/2 hour trip up the canyon in the van.  Tom was on fire from the beginning and took off like a wild man!  He ran all the way down alone.  I hung with the 2nd wave with a 7:40 pace for the 8 miles.  Behind me there were a few single stragglers then the final wave with one final straggler at the end.  Three of us had a car at mile 8 to take us the last 3 down.  Since it was my first time doing the steeper part of the mountain Coach Tom and all the others there thought it was a good idea for me to do 8 instead of 11 today.  Next week I'll take it all the way to the bottom. I felt really good all the way and am feeling good now!  We'll see what tomorrow and the next day bring.  

It was fun to learn about some neat ancient Indian ruins in New Mexico from a few of the runners who recently went there and had some great hikes and great times.  I might have to look further into a trip like that.  It sounded quite amazing!

I'm feeling good so far after the downhill yesterday.  Tom and I went out for an easy 5 mile loop this morning.  He always adds a bit more on at work. 

Today is elementary school registration day! I can't believe it!  The summer is flying by!